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dam-l Epupa meeting delayed
This is from The Namibian, June 25.
> Epupa meeting postponed
>
> CHRISTOF MALETSKY
>
> A MEETING of the Namibia-Angola Permanent Joint Technical
> Commission scheduled to be held in Windhoek this week to make
> proposals on the Epupa dam project has been postponed to early
> next month.
>
> According to Director of Energy in the Ministry of Mines and
> Energy, Paulinus Shilamba, the meeting was deferred because of
> the unavailability of members from both teams.
>
> Shilamba told The Namibian that the meeting had now been set for
> July 6 to 8 and will serve as a final meeting before the PJTC
> makes recommendations to the two Governments on whether or not to
> proceed with the construction of the controversial Epupa
> Hydropower scheme in Kunene.
>
> However, sources believe that the meeting might well not take
> place as a decision had already been taken at Government level to
> push ahead with construction at the large dam site at Epupa falls
> and that an undisclosed amount of funding had been secured.
>
> Earlier the Namibian Government denied the funding claims through
> Shilamba.
>
> However, the Mines official said at the time that they had been
> "inundated" with calls from as far as the United States and
> Europe by financial institutions who wanted to fund the dam
> project. But, according to Shilamba, prospective investors had
> been told to wait until a final decision had been made.
>
> Nonetheless, well-placed sources maintain that a political
> decision on the project was taken long ago and that the Namibian
> Government had also long decided on the option of the larger
> Epupa site.
>
> The Epupa site appears to be viewed as the more "prestigious"
> site by the Namibian Government and was a controversial inclusion
> in the final feasibility study after consultants had recommended
> Site E in the Baynes mountains as the only option to be
> investigated further.
>
> The decision to include the Epupa site cost taxpayers of both
> countries an additional N$3 million, with the cost split between
> the two.
>
> The Baynes site was seen by Government as too small, despite its
> environmental and social impact advantages compared to other
> potential sites.
>
> It is some 40 kilometres downstream from the Epupa falls and
> would have less negative social and environmental impact than the
> other sites.
>
> The Epupa site is seven kilometres downstream from the falls and
> is likely to displace some 700 Himba people. The area flooded at
> the Baynes site would be 94sq kilometres while Epupa would cover
> over 250 sq kilometres.
>
> Earlier the PJTC had said that the two sites had been chosen
> because "it was difficult to compare, at this stage of the study,
> the environmental benefits of Baynes with its economic
> disadvantages under certain conditions".
>
> The PJTC said the Epupa site offered excellent technical
> conditions compared to Baynes which would have smaller water
> storage capacity. It would also be less dependent on the Gove dam
> in Angola.
>
> The feasibility study said both sites were equal when technical
> factors were assessed.
>
> The consortium of consultants responsible for the feasibility
> study, pinpointed Baynes as the best option in October 1996.
>
> In their view the Baynes site would prove to be economically and
> financially viable. "The unmitigated environmental problems are
> believed to remain within reasonable scientific margins from an
> international planning perspective," the consultants said.
>
> At the time environmentalists expressed fears that the decision
> to include the Epupa site indicated that the feasibility study
> was merely a procedural exercise and that the two governments had
> already decided to build the dam no matter what the outcome of
> the study.
>
> June 25, 1998
>
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